Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A Las Vegas mob boss (Martin Balsam) comes up with an ingenious way to launder money - buy a bank! He sends pal Doc Fletcher (Michael Caine) to Switzerland to buy a bank with the help of local contact Prince Gianfranco di Siracusa (Louis Jordan). Along for the ride is the kingpin's wayward son Albert (Jay Leno). Prince Siracusa has a deed for a bank (really a rundown apartment over a pizza parlor) and then things get complicated when his "cousins" (Stéphane Audran and David Warner) want Fletcher to buy in on their Iranian silver mine. Also figuring into this are a banking exec (Tom Smothers) and his ditzy wife (Cybill Shepherd). Ouch! Caine has been upfront about his taking roles for their locations (paid vacation!) and I can't think of any other reason he would have taken this. It is billed as a comedy-thriller, yet manages to never be funny or thrilling. You would think with such a cast that some sort of sparks would fly, but this nearly 2 hour flick is a bore. It doesn't help that the main plot twist doesn't kick in until 90 minutes in (even though you've guess it when it is introduced) and the tricks to swindle some buyers turns into an anti-THE STING. Lots of moments of people talking...and talking...and talking. It says something when the comic highlight is Caine accidentally dropping a breakfast egg in his lap. I lay it all firmly at the feet of director Ivan Passer, who thinks having such a capable cast can immediately pass for a top notch film. Definitely not the case. I'm sure Caine's wife thanks him though.

Here's the prob. The book's a lot better. Paul Erdman invented the financial thriller with Billion Dollar Sure Thing and followed it up with this story. Inevitably, it's a 70s caper pic without the physical action. Not a great recipe but it works. The leads are OK. Michael Caine isn't given a lot to work with and Jay Leno shows he was right to take another direction. The supporting roles are much better filled. Joss Ackland and Charles Gray both deliver on cue and whoever plays Donald Luckman comes closer than anyone to the book. On the other hand, Cybil Shepherd's Debbie Luckman is nothing like the book. She's better! In the book, Debbie's a frustrated, embittered bitch. And not without reason but here, she's a suburban child escaping her boundaries but never breaking faith with Donald. Donald's going to be locked up and she's not about to abandon him. But Michael Caine's home is awfully close to the jail ...

I haven't seen this movie in ages but I remember liking it a great deal. The plot is one of those twisty turny types thats no where near as clever as it think it is. The film is a mindless time killer but not in a bad way. The real curiosity is the fact that it stars Jay Leno in what is actually the third largest part in the film. Leno is good in his role, certainly much better than you'd expect from one of the current kings of late night TV. Certainly had this film been made now Leno would be billed near the top instead of eighth or ninth in the cast list. If you're dying to be able to one up your friends in useless trivia and to be able to see a film that they probably haven;t seen, but might want to for the curiosity factor, give it a shot.

It's a good crime picture with a star-packed cast. The plot is very engaging and not much complicated but also a clever one, which is a big advantage because you never get bored while watching it. Ivan Passer who directed the movie was amongst the leading directors of the new wave in Czechoslovakia in the early 60s but this picture is entirely different. Anyway, it's good in its genre and definitely well acted with the required *twinkle* in the eye from Michael Caine. The locations are very attractive as well as music. It's a very pleasant movie to watch in the evening. I recommend it not only to Michael Caine fans.